No 669 “En mi opinión” Mayo 27, 2014

Obama is Guilty of Dereliction of Duty, Malpractice, Criminal Neglect and Treason

On this Memorial Day, we are called to remember and honor our loved ones, friends and others who served and died protecting our country and securing our freedoms. Like so many others, I have family members who served and died and a number who served and lived. I chose to honor them all on this day as they were all willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect you, me and the American way of life.

Sadly, PresidentBarack Obamawould rather honor and pay tribute to the millions of illegal aliens rather than to the men and women who fought and served our nation. Undoubtedly, Obama will visit Arlington National Cemetery and pay a fake homage to our fallen heroes, but his real actions as president reveal how he truly feels about those who sacrificed for his freedoms.

Just weigh the difference between what Obama does for our veterans versus what he does for illegal aliens. As I previously reported on the VA hospital in Phoenix and how dozens of veterans died while waiting for appointments that were intentionally delayed. Now we are hearing that it wasn’t just at the Phoenix VA but at many of the VA facilities around the nation. Hundreds of veterans, perhaps thousands have been denied the medical treatment they are entitled to for serving our country.

Democrats Calling Obama ‘Detached,’ ‘Flat Footed,’ ‘Incompetent’

I thought these were established facts. Check it out:

CNN’s John King reports that Democrats are privately callingPresidentObama“detached,” “flat footed,” and “incompetent.”

“Forget for a moment that Republican outrage,” said King on his CNN show this morning. “More and more Democrats in key 2014 races are calling for the president to get a spine, they say, and fire his Veterans Affairs secretary. And what more and more Democrats are saying privately is scathing, calling the president and his team detached, flat footed, even incompetent.

“Maggie Haberman,” said King turning to a panelist, “that’s what strikes me, what democrats are saying privately in the wakes of the healthcare.gov problems, they see a president who doesn’t want to take command, doesn’t want to act fast. Raising the competence question. Some Democrats, who believe in government, [are saying] this White House doesn’t appear to have its hand on the lever.”

Today as I returned from Detroit, I had a moment that I truly felt was God sent, as I don’t believe in coincidences. It happened on one of my flights, and it was two hours I will never forget.

I was seated beside someone who personally knew one of the men who was there on the roof in Benghazi. This person was excited to share with me the “ground truth” of what happened September 11, 2012.

My seat mate drew schematics to orient me to the “time and spacing” and the direction of the attack. I learned about the repeated orders to the men at the CIA annex to stand down and do nothing — thank God two of them, Glenn Doherty and Ty Woods, lived up to their code of honor and ran to the sound of the guns, resulting in their loss of life — but the preservation of life for others, their fellow Americans.

I learned about the proximity of the staging area of the attack to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, and the attackers were indeed Ansar al-Sharia, a group affiliated with al-Qaida. I came to understand why Ambassador Chris Stevens was there in the first place and that he had in fact requested better security but was denied – the question is, by whom? And I learned that the Martyrs of 17 February Brigade were in charge of security and were the ones who opened the gates, then fled.

I learned there are those who are being threatened with their pensions being cut off if they come forth to speak.

And I learned, as I presumed, that there was a covert weapons scheme going on in Libya, Benghazi. We had been supplying radical Islamists with weapons against Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi, effectively supplying the enemy and destabilizing that country. And it seems that there was a CIA weapons buy-back program, the aim of which was to ship the retrieved weapons out of Libya through Turkey, and to the Islamist forces in Syria.

“We’ve waited 329 days, we’re willing to wait another six weeks,” Reid said, according to Politico. “But at the end of six weeks, if something hasn’t been done, then there’s gonna have to be a move made. And it’s too bad we have to do that, because we all know things can be done administratively, but it’s better to change the law.”

Schumer, who has previously said there could be legislation by “June or July,” concurred.

“They have about a six-week window, from June 10 after the last Republican primary until the August recess. If they don’t pass immigration reform them, the president will have no choice but to act on his own,” he said, according to The Hill.

Schumer, along with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), has said that this year is the last chance to pass sweeping amnesty legislation. The New York Democrat has also suggested that Congress pass the Senate’s amnesty bill, which the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of American workers, but delay the implementation of it until Obama leaves office in 2017. Reid also endorsed Schumer’s suggestion, which would give amnesty to all illegal immigrants who arrived in the country before 2014 Read the rest of this Patriot Update article here: http://patriotupdate.com/2014/05/obama-amnesty-executive-order-august/#aEiYYflbJvmdUyok.99

HHS Document Revealing Scope of Obamacare Rollout Disaster Type “Obamacare rollout disaster” into the Google search engine, and you get a staggering 290,000 results, most of them dating back to the days immediately following the catastrophic October 2013 launch of Healthcare.gov. Significantly, however, the most recent results focus on the Judicial Watch release on May 19, 2014. That’s the date Judicial Watch released a106-page documentwe obtained on May 1 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that reveals the shocking details of the rollout disaster.

Though the Obama administration tried to cover up the full extent of the website failure in the days following its launch, the lengthy Judicial Watch document tells a tale of complete collapse. The document was forced out of this secretive administration by our November 25, 2013, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.

Judicial Watch filed suit after HHS refused to respond to our October 7, 2013, FOIA request seeking the following information:

Any and all records concerning, regarding, or related to the number of individuals that purchased health insurance through Healthcare.gov between October 1, 2013, and October 4, 2013.

A simple request – that was stonewalled for over six months. Now we know why. This document shows that, on its first full day of operation, October 1, 2013, Obamacare’s Healthcare.gov received only one enrollment! That’s one – out of 334 million Americans. On the second day, 48% of registrations failed to process.

The Affordable Health Care Act website immediately encountered massive problems typical of those reported by the Chicago Tribune: “Consumers seeking more information on their new options under the Affordable Care Act were met with long delays, error messages and a largely non-working federal insurance exchange and call center Tuesday morning.” Late-night comedian Jay Leno joked that Americans were getting carpal tunnel syndrome trying to get through to register.

Pressed for an explanation in a conference call with reporters on Obamacare’s opening day, Marilyn Tavenner, head of the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, refused to disclose the number of people who had purchased insurance through the site saying, “We have just decided not to release that yet.”

The full extent of the failure, however, is reflected in the details provided by the Judicial Watch FOIA document revelations. They include:

• As of October 31, 2013, there were 1,319,425 accounts created nationwide – but only 30,512 actual enrollments in Obamacare.

• On October 1, 2013, at the end of the first day (4:30), the Senior Advisor at Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Brigid M. Russell, sent out an email to her staff with a subject line celebrating “2 enrollments!” The body copy of the email read: “We have our second official FFM enrollment! The first two Form 834s sent out are to: 1) CareSource in Ohio, 2) BCBS of North Carolina.

• Official figures contained in the HHS report provide conflicting figures as to the number of enrollments. FFM [Federally Facilitated Marketplace] statistics show 23,259 cumulative to-date applications submitted as of 10/2/13 and 286 completed plan selections. Earlier numbers show 356 enrollmentscreated as of 7pm on 10/2/13that were completed with Form 834s sent.

• An October 2, 2013, email from HHS Special Assistant Marianne Bowenindicated serious problems with congressional enrollments: “The Congressional issue (68 attempts for Direct enrollment) was an issue stemming from incomplete applications being sent through (started, not finished, sent anyway) and the way the issuers are assigning unique numbers. Turns out there were only 4 complete Direct Enrollment applications that went through, the other 64 were not complete.” [The U.S. Congress has approximately 24,000professional staffers.]

• On October 2, 2013, the Obamacare website had 70 million page views but only 5 million were unique visitors, and 48% of registrations failed. The large number of page views may have been the result of visitors repeatedly hitting the “refresh” button due to long waiting times.

Once again, as is so often the case, Judicial Watch was able to get information through FOIA that no one else had gotten – in this case, the specifics about the unmitigated failure of Healthcare.gov. The Obama administration tried to cover this up and Congress failed to follow through, but we managed to get the truth about the $667 million Obamacare website. Imagine what would have happened to Obamacare if the American people knew that only one person was able to enroll on its first day? And imagine what will happen when the full truth is finally revealed about what other Obamacare failures President Obama is hiding.

We already know that even after it became clear that the Healthcare.gov website had failed to perform, the Obama administration continued putting out bogus figures touting its success. On April 17, Obama boasted that eight million people had signed up for health insurance on Healthcare.gov. But, that figure appears to have been massively over-inflated. According totestimony in Mayby the America’s Health Insurance Plans association before the House Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Oversight, “Because of the challenges that surfaced with the launch of the Exchanges in October 2013, some consumers were advised to create a new account and enroll again. As a result, insurers have many duplicate enrollments in their system for which they never received any payment.”

And there are other problems dating all the way back to the launch as well. That’s why, in addition to our FOIA lawsuit to obtain rollout enrollment figures, on March 27, 2014, we also filed a FOIA lawsuitagainst the HHS for records regarding the testing and oversight of the Obama administration’s error-filled “834” reporting forms. Form 834 is an electronic file sent from HealthCare.gov to an insurance company after a consumer picks a health care coverage plan. An inaccurate 834 form may result in consumers either not having coverage, or being turned down for payment claims. It has been estimated that as many as 33 percentof the 834 forms for enrollees in the federal health care website may have been inaccurate, incomplete, or missing altogether.

We are not going to stop pursuing the truth on the Obamacare fiasco. And we will keep you informed every step of the way.

Judicial Watch Files Suit over White House Stonewall

Under 5 U.S. Code § 552 – better known as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is specifically charged with investigating allegations that federal agencies have violated FOIA regulations. Here’s how the law reads: “the Special Counsel shall … conduct an investigation of any allegation concerning …arbitrary or capricious withholding of information prohibited under [FOIA] …”

Notice that in writing the law, Congress used the imperative “shall” – not “can,” “may,” or “if it wants to.” In short, Congress ordered the Special Counsel to get the job done. There is no wiggle room. And that makes it all the more ironic, and lamentable, that on April 25, 2014, Judicial Watch was forced to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the OSCto obtain government records about our June 15, 2010, request for an investigation into possible Hatch Act violations by then-White House staff members Rahm Emanuel and Jim Messina.

After filing the 2010 complaint, we received no information from OSC until May 30, 2013 – that’s right, three full years later. And that information came only in response to a May 23, 2013, letter we sent to OSC Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner asking about the disposition of our complaint. Her response further compounded the issue. The OSC, she informed Judicial Watch, had simply decided to close the case against Emanuel and Messina. No investigation. No charges. Olly, olly oxen free.

So, on June 27, 2013, we filed a FOIA request, seeking the following information:

Any and all records concerning, regarding, or related to the request for investigation filed by Judicial Watch with the Hatch Act Unit on June 15, 2010 concerning federal employees Jim Messina and Rahm Emanuel.

The OSC, the enforcer of FOIA, ignored our FOIA request. So, now, we are going to court to prosecute the Special Counsel’s “arbitrary or capricious withholding of information.”

By way of background, our original complaint alleged that in 2009, then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and then-deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, on behalf of the Obama administration, both used their position and influence as highly placed federal employees to affect the outcome of federal elections. And that was in direct violation of the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act states that an employee may not “use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.” And there is very little doubt as to their culpability.

On May 27, 2009, Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak saidin an interview with CNN that he intended to challenge Senator Arlen Specter in the 2010 Democratic Primary. According to a White House memoauthored by then-White House Counsel Robert Bauer, “efforts were made in June and July of 2009 to determine whether Congressman Sestak would be interested in service on a Presidential or other Senior Executive Branch Advisory Board, which would avoid a divisive Senate primary.” The memo further notes that Emanuel enlisted the help of former President Bill Clinton to raise the executive branch positions with Congressman Sestak. Sestak rebuffed the Obama White House offers and defeated Specter in the primary. And then it was Messina’s turn to play party politics from the Oval Office.

The Colorado Independentreportedon August 29, 2009, that Andrew Romanoff planned to challenge Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennet in the 2010 Democratic Primary. According to the Associated Pressin June, 2010, Messina allegedly called Romanoff on September 11, 2009, and suggested that Romanoff’s time might be better spent working for the U.S. Agency for International Development instead of running for the Senate. Romanoff released an email from Messina dated that same day listing three jobs that “would be available” if Romanoff were not running for the Senate against Bennet. Two of them were with USAID, the other was the position of director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Romanoff rebuffed the Obama White House offers and was defeated by Bennet in the primary.

On June 15, 2010, we sent a complaint to then-Associate Special Counsel to the OSC Hatch Act Unit, William Reukauf, charging that both Messina and Emanuel “used their official authority for the purpose of affecting the result of an election.” We requested “an investigation into violations of the Hatch Act by Messrs. Messina and Emanuel.”

As I have said, the OSC failed to respond to the Judicial Watch complaint for nearly three years. So, finally, on May 23, 2013, we asked OSC Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner requesting “all information concerning the disposition of our request for investigation filed with the Hatch Act Unit on June 15, 2010, concerning federal employees Jim Messina and Rahm Emanuel.”

On May 30, 2013, we received Lerner’s letter informing us that because Emanuel and Messina had left government employment, “the complaints against Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Messina have been closed without further action.” I emphasize the word “further” because as far as anyone knows, no action was taken at all!

In fact, that’s what we told Lerner in a June 28 letter, pointing out that the OSC had failed to take any action whatsoever throughout the period Emanuel and Messina had remained federal employees. And, they had both remained government employees for a sufficient amount of time after the original complaint had been filed for OSC to have taken action. We also questioned the arbitrary “rule” under which OSC claimed they do not investigate wrongdoing after employees leave government employment. After all, neither man will be difficult to track down: Emanuel is now mayor of Chicago and Messina now runs Obama White House-allied Organizing for America and is a political consultant.

There is indisputable evidence that Emanuel and Messina – both Obama White House officials at the time — attempted to manipulate federal elections in at least two states. And that is a clear violation of the law. Yet, instead of investigating Judicial Watch’s very serious allegations in a timely and thorough fashion, the Office of Special Counsel stonewalled the complaint and allowed the perpetrators to walk away without so much as a question. Now, the OSC is violating the Freedom of Information Act it is charged with enforcing by refusing to respond to the Judicial Watch FOIA request. Perhaps the OSC needs to begin investigating itself. And, in the meantime, we’ll see them in court.

Veterans Administration Scandal Gets Washington’s Attention

Much of the mainstream media is ablaze with the latest Obama administration scandal, this one involving Veterans Administration (VA) waiting lists that have allowed scores of military veterans to die while forlornly awaiting long-promised treatment. In fact, not only did the Obama VA leave stricken military heroes sick and dying, it went so far as falsify informationabout the treatment of veterans it left languishing. And the president’s response, of course, was his usual, “I only know what I read in the papers” – despite the fact he was informed of the problem five long years ago and had made VA issues a centerpiece of his election campaign in 2008.

Just as you might expect, however, while Obama has been hiding out in the Oval Office watching the news, Judicial Watch has been at work uncovering the truth about the VA scandal. And, in fact, our investigation began way back in February – long before most of the mainstream media even noticed there was a problem. We will provide you full details of our investigation as it continues to unfold.

But, let me take just a few minutes now to give you an overview: The scandal first came to public notice when Dr. Sam Foote at the Phoenix Veterans Administration retired and began to make detailed allegations that patients in Phoenix, AZ, were placed on a secret waiting list and that several of them died while awaiting care. And by most reports, this Arizona issue is just the tip of the iceberg.

I want to personally assure you that your Judicial Watch is on top of this devastating scandal. And we will reveal much more information in the days and weeks to come. Just as with the Benghazi scandal, which Judicial Watch blew wide open two weeks ago, the VA Death List scandal has left the Obama administration with blood on its hands. And we are not going to allow the president to cover his tracks in newsprint.

It is a sad state of affairs in our nation that Memorial Day must now include honoring those veterans who died as a result of government corruption and malfeasance in the very federal agency charged with their care.

To honor our heroic dead, I thought it appropriate, as we did last Memorial Day in theUpdate, to reprint another portion of the May 5, 1868, Memorial Day proclamation (General Orders No. 11) by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, who declared we should honor our war dead and their sacred resting places:

All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic. Happy Memorial Day …

From November 2013 through January 2014 Belgium with a GDP of $480 billion purchased $141.2 billion of US Treasury bonds. Somehow Belgium came up with enough money to allocate during a 3-month period 29 percent of its annual GDP to the purchase of US Treasury bonds.

Certainly Belgium did not have a budget surplus of $141.2 billion. Was Belgium running a trade surplus during a 3-month period equal to 29 percent of Belgium GDP?

No, Belgium’s trade and current accounts are in deficit.

Did Belgium’s central bank print $141.2 billion worth of euros in order to make the purchase?

No, Belgium is a member of the euro system, and its central bank cannot increase the money supply.

So where did the $141.2 billion come from?

There is only one source. The money came from the US Federal Reserve, and the purchase was laundered through Belgium in order to hide the fact that actual Federal Reserve bond purchases during November 2013 through January 2014 were $112 billion per month.

In other words, during those 3 months there was a sharp rise in bond purchases by the Fed. The Fed’s actual bond purchases for those three months are $27 billion per month above the original $85 billion monthly purchase and $47 billion above the official $65 billion monthly purchase at that time.

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Why did the Federal Reserve have to purchase so many bonds above the announced amounts and why did the Fed have to launder and hide the purchase?

Some country or countries, unknown at this time, for reasons we do not know dumped $104 billion in Treasuries in one week.

The White House inadvertently exposed the name of the CIA’s top spy in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday when it gave the press a list of U.S. officials participating in President Barack Obama’s surprise visit to the troops.

The list was emailed on Saturday night to reporters accompanying the president on the trip, and was then included in a pool report written by Washington Post White House bureau chief Scott Wilson. That report was released to more than 6,000 news organizations before Wilson noticed what he believed to be an error.

The name listed the person as “Chief of Station” in Kabul. The term is used by the CIA for the highest ranking spy in country, the Post reported.

Wilson asked White House press officials in Afghanistan if the inclusion of the chief of station was intentional. Initially, they told him it was because military officials had provided the list. But senior administration officials noticed the mistake and quickly sent out a revised list without the chief of station’s name included.

The Post withheld the station chief’s name in its reporting at the request of the White House and because it could endanger the lives of the officer and his family. The White House and CIA declined to comment for The Post’s story.

Iran’s Supreme Leader: Jihad Will Continue Until America is No MoreIran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, all but said on Sunday that negotiations over the country’s illicit nuclear program are over and that the Islamic Republic’s ideals include destroying America.“Those (Iranians) who want to promote negotiation and surrender to the oppressors and blame the Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason,” Khamenei told a meeting of members of parliament, according to the regime’s Fars News Agency.Khamenei emphasized that without a combative mindset, the regime cannot reach its higher Islamic role against the “oppressors’ front.”“The reason for continuation of this battle is not the warmongering of the Islamic Republic. Logic and reason command that for Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself,” he said.“Today’s world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honor, dignity and morality who are equipped with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretence of humanity easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of the world.”In response to a question by a parliamentarian on how long this battle will continue, Khamenei said,“Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist. … This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought. … This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.”Khamenei cited the scientific advancement of the country. “The accelerated scientific advancement of the last 12 years cannot stop under any circumstances,” he said, referring to the strides the regime has made toward becoming a nuclear power.As reported on May 19 on The Daily Caller, Iran has put up new roadblocks to reaching a deal with the P5+1 world powers over its illicit nuclear program. The powers are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany.Three days of negotiations in the fourth round of Geneva meetings ended recently without concrete results when the Iranian team presented the country’s new “red lines” — diminishing any hope by the Obama administration to claim victory in its approach to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to reports from Iran.The Obama administration had hoped that with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif showing an eagerness to solve the nuclear issue and address the West’s concerns, there would be a possibility for a negotiated solution. An interim agreement penned last November in Geneva was touted as a “historic nuclear deal.”Under that agreement, Iran, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief, limited its enrichment activity to the 5 percent level with a current stockpile of over 10 tons (enough for six nuclear bombs), converted much of its 20 percent enriched stock to harmless oxide and agreed to allow more intrusive inspections of its nuclear plants by the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspections were limited to only agreed-upon facilities.The Iranian delegation last week presented new red lines that could not be crossed, including the expansion of the country’s research and development for its nuclear program, the need of the country to continue enrichment, and the fact that the country’s ballistic missile program — despite U.N. sanctions — is not up for negotiation.At the same time, IAEA officials met again with their Iranian counterparts last week in Tehran to discuss information on the work on detonators and needed collaboration by the regime to clear outstanding issues on its nuclear program as part of seven transparency steps Iran had agreed to fulfill by May 15, which has yet to take place.Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).Iran’s Supreme Leader: Jihad Will Continue Until America is No MoreIran’s Supreme Leader: Jihad Will Continue Until Americ…Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, all but said on Sunday that negotiations over the country’s illicit nuclear program are over

At the same time, the U.S. shouldn’t let itself become dependent on Russia or anyone else for critical defense functions. Launching intelligence satellites is definitely critical. Among other things, the Pentagon uses them to watch the Russian troops who might act against Ukraine.

How did we get in this position? A reader with diplomatic experience says it wasn’t always like this.

Reader Ralph A. says: “Back in the 1950s-‘70s, when I was a U.S. Foreign Service officer, our policy was to ensure that were always able to manufacture critical defense and electrical components within the U.S. In the event of an international crisis or war, we were never dependent on foreign manufacturers for ‘critical’ components. In those days, such policies were bi-partisan.“

Brad:Thanks for writing, Ralph. The policy you mention makes perfect sense. I suspect most Americans probably think it is still the policy today. They’re wrong.

When did this change? Some readers point to the current administration.

Reader James W. says: “The Russian rocket fiasco was no doubt approved by (Barack) Hussein Obama, if not actually instigated, which no doubt is part of his plan to destroy America by whatever means he can conjure up and the spineless Republicans and the biased, left, nut wing News Media let him get away with.“

Brad:It was a good guess, James, but the Pentagon first allowed its contractors to use Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines back in the year 2000. Bill Clinton was president at the time. The George W. Bush administration continued the policy, as has the Obama administration. Both political parties share the blame on this.

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Another reader wants to make sure we identify the right companies in this story.

Reader Danny F. says: “Let‘s be clear. United Launch Alliance is a launch services company that purchases rockets under contract from Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Boeing (BA).

“Atlasrockets are manufactured by Lockheed and utilize Russian rocket engines.Delta rockets are manufactured by Boeing and utilize American made Rocketdyne rocket engines. “

Brad:Thanks for the clarification, Danny. The ULA consortium was in the news again today. The Pentagon apparently feels stung by the Elon Musk accusation it has locked SpaceX out of the rocket competition. From Bloomberg…

The U.S. Air Force is spending about $60 million and using as many as 100 people to certify billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for launching military and spy satellites, according to the service’s top uniformed acquisition official.

“‘We’ve got folks busting their butt to get SpaceX certified despite what everything in the media seems to say,‘ Lieutenant General Charles Davis said in an interview.

“Davis said the Air Force is eager to find opportunities for SpaceX in its $67.6 billion launch program as he sought to rebut Musk’s contention that the service is protecting a monopoly for United Launch Alliance LLC, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.

“‘We’ve had to react to SpaceX and members of Congress,‘ Davis said. ‘Now there’s allegations of cronyism; there’s allegations of ‘you just want to give money to ULA because you don’t want to have a new entrant certified.’“

This is kind of a crazy situation, don’t you think?The Air Force is “eager to find opportunities“ to let SpaceX to compete, General Davis says. They’ve spent $60 million and have 100 people working to “certify“ SpaceX.

Meanwhile, we have SpaceX filing suits and its founder going public with accusations of Pentagon favoritism. Who are we supposed to believe?

This is a good reminder that defense contractors are in business to make a profit, just like other companies. Big money is at stake in these arguments, and the contractors aren’t shy about using political muscle. Let’s just hope they don’t lose sight of their real goal: defending the nation.

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If the U.S. ever does go to war against Russia, we may be up against ships made in France.Two amphibious assault ships are currently under construction in French shipyards, according to the New York Times.

This week the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, declined to cancel the sale and said France will decide in October whether to deliver the ships to Vladimir Putin’s navy.

Again, this seems very strange. France is one of the European nations whose gas supply Putin has threatened — but France is also happy to sell weapons to Russia. They must see this as routine business. I think they may regret it later.

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What’s your take on this? Whose side is France on? Will the Air Force let SpaceX compete? Click here to send me your comments.

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On another note, today the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved a new “net neutrality“ rule. It will prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or discriminating against legal content passing through their networks.

That may sound fair enough, but the rule also allows providers to pay ISPs for guaranteed “fast lane“ service. This could eventually be a disadvantage for small content providers who can’t afford the fast lane.

During the last few weeks, I’ve heard a bunch of rumors about deals between top ISPs like AT&T (T)and big content providers like Netflix (NFLX) and Facebook (FB). Not knowing how reliable these rumors are, I haven’t written much about them.

However, mobile Internet could get a lot faster if my colleague Tony Sagami is right. He’s on the trail of a tiny tech startup that‘s created what he calls the “Mobile Supernet.“ You can watch Tony’s new video here, if your ISP will give you enough bandwidth.

I suspect this FCC decision may be what some of the companies were waiting for. If so, get ready for a wave of telecom/media news announcements in the coming weeks. It should be fun to watch.

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Stocks dipped againjust a few days after the Dow and S&P 500 touched new all-time highs. The lack of follow-through isn’t a good sign — but it isn’t necessarily bad, either. Sometimes a little consolidation helps set up a stronger rally.